History of the Lighthouse

Lighthouse Series-History

Definition: A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other types of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.

History of the Lighthouse

Lighthouses stand as guiding lights to help those out to sea find their way back to shore. They also serve as a warning against hazards, such as; shallow water, reefs, and rocks. The history of the lighthouse goes back to Rome and the 5th Century BC. The first lighthouse is said to have been at Piraeus connected to Athens and was essentially a small stone column with a fire beacon. During the middle ages, most Roman lighthouses fell into disuse, some remained functional like the Tower of Hercules. The Tower of Hercules(Galician and Spanish: Torre de Hércules) stands (180 ft) tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. The structure, built in the 2nd century and renovated in 1791, is the oldest lighthouse in use today.

I’m going to be writing mainly about modern lighthouses built in America. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century. The first modern lighthouse in America was the Boston Light, it was built in 1716 at Boston Harbor. Lighthouses were soon built along the coast from Delaware to North Carolina were navigation was treacherous. They were first built of wood but were soon changed to Masonry to avoid the fire hazard. The oldest Masonry Lighthouse still standing is the Sandy Hook lighthouse it was built in 1764 in New Jersey, it is also the oldest “Working” lighthouse in the United States.

Construction

A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse that stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea bottoms. In the United States, many screw-pile lighthouses were built in the Chesapeake bay due to its soft bottom. The construction is a 1 1/2 story wooden building with dormers(a dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof) and lightroom. The first of this type built in the United States was at Brandywine Shoal, Delaware Bay, completed in 1850.

There are still some surviving examples of the screw-pile lighthouse standing today;

• Carysfort Reef Light, Key Largo, Florida, Built 1852
• Seven Foot Knoll Light, Patapsco River, Maryland, Built 1856
• Thomas Point Shoal Light, in the Chesapeake Bay, a historic lighthouse and most recognized in Maryland
• Drum Point Light, Patuxent River, Maryland, now at the Calvert Marine Museum
• Hooper Straight Light, Tangier Sound, Now at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
• Roanoke River Light, built 1877, only surviving Screw-Pile Lighthouse in North Carolina
• Fowey Rocks Light, built 1878, south miles south of Key Biscayne, Florida
• American Shoal Light, built 1880, located east of Saddlebunch Keys in the Florida Keys
• Middle Bay Light, built 1885, Alabama’s Mobile Bay

The screw-pile lighthouses on the reefs off Florida are tall Skeletal structures.

Lighting Improvements

The first source of illumination in the lighthouse was wood pyres or burning coal. The Argand lamp, which was invented in 1782, revolutionized lighthouse illumination with a steady smokeless flame. This lamp used, whale oil, olive oil or other vegetable oil as fuel. It became the standard for lighthouses for over a century.

The vaporized oil burner was invented in 1901, the fuel was vaporized at high pressure and burned to heat the mantle, giving an output of over 6 times the luminosity of standard oil lights. The use of gas as an illuminant became widely available, as did the use of the “sun valve”, which automatically regulated the light and turned it off during the daytime. This technology was the main form of light sources in lighthouses from 1900-1960 when electric lighting became dominant.

The Fresnel Lens was invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel and first used in 1823. The Fresnel Lens increased luminosity of the Lighthouse lamp by a factor of four, and his system is still in use today.

This is just a brief overview of the History of the Lighthouse. I find lighthouses to be majestic and inspirational! Not only are they found along the coasts, but also along the Great Lakes. Next in my series, I will write about specific lighthouses in each state. Please share and comment, and check back soon for more on Lighthouses, “Guiding Lights”

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